In the age of IoT, we have become more and more reliant on the convenience of having information at our fingertips. When was the last time you opened a cookbook to find a recipe? Or bought a TV guide to find out what channel the Oscars are on?

With Shelby, you can bring the same convenience to your plant floor.

Just what is an “industrial analytics appliance” you might wonder and why would I need one?

Excellent question. Everyone talks about IoT and the opportunity it provides us with smart devices and data. However, one of the biggest challenges of data is data. Specifically, having too much data to sift through or having data that isn’t actionable. Shelby and FT Analytics for Devices scans your network and brings back all of the important and relevant information from various automation equipment and cues it up into an actionable dashboard.

What does this mean?

It means you now can see when a battery is failing in a ControlLogix chassis or when a drive has faulted without identifying a million parameters or tags and coding them into various other systems. All relevant info for most Rockwell devices is instantly at your fingertips within 5 minutes of turning on your Project Shelby device and scanning your plant network.

So just what is “Shelby?” The chatbot that is part of FTAnalytics, is now named “Shelby” and Shelby can cue up the critical information you need to know almost instantly by chatting with it on your browser or your mobile device.

“Shelby, which drive faulted?”

“Shelby, what is the health of my Controllogix L73 processor?”

Quite simply, Shelby is a data-scientist in a box. Using FactoryTalk, it can answer questions on real-time data collected and help you turn this data into actionable information. It takes the guesswork out of the wear and tear on your plant floor components.

Check out the video from Rockwell on how Great Lakes Brewing uses Shelby to improve efficiency and gain insight into their processes.

Fred Capanna is a Process and Information Consultant for Rumsey. He has spent his career in Automation, first with DuPont and then with Rumsey. He has spent the last 18 years supporting automation and process solutions for the manufacturing industry. Fred was the Philadelphia Section ISA president from 2012 through 2014. He is presently acting as the Program Chair for the Philadelphia Section.